Murphy Promises To Compromise In New Job

Senator-Elect Meets Press, Enjoys Chili Dog

NEW BRITAIN — — Chris Murphy, Connecticut's new U.S. senator-elect, stopped by Capitol Lunch on a snowy Wednesday afternoon to savor a chili dog and a hard-fought victory over Republican Linda McMahon.

Visiting the Main Street luncheonette is a post-Election day tradition for Murphy, who currently represents the 5th District in Congress. This time, he was joined by a contingent of reporters and TV cameras.

The Democrat from Cheshire said his party affiliation and President Barack Obama's coattails, along with strong support from women and a commanding performance in a series of televised debates, helped push him to victory. Now, with a rough and expensive campaign behind him, Murphy emphasized bipartisanship as he prepared to move to the upper chamber and claim the seat currently held by Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

"I do want to go to Washington to be someone who's willing to compromise on big issues, taxes and spending,'' Murphy said.

His record in the House shows he's been a reliable Democratic vote, siding with his party's leaders more than 90 percent of the time. But, Murphy said, "Sen. Lieberman's seat comes with a responsibility to be one of the people in the Senate who's willing to reach out and work with Republicans. I'm going to have an opportunity to do that very quickly when it comes to trying to avoid this 'fiscal cliff' [Jan. 1 deadline to avert huge spending cuts and tax hikes] and try and get some financial settlement for the nation going forward."

Murphy scored a 12-point win in a race that pollsters had deemed too close to call as late as September. McMahon invested at least $43 million of her own money in the race and ran a relentless and largely negative ad campaign against the Democrat, who benefited from an influx of money from outside groups such as labor unions, abortion-rights advocates and the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

McMahon, who lost her 2010 Senate bid to Democrat Richard Blumenthal by roughly the same margin, had no public appearances Wednesday and her campaign spokesman, Todd Abrajano, said she was not available.

But supporters and foes alike were already debating the impact McMahon and her multimillion-dollar, self-funded campaigns would have on the state's political terrain.

"I don't think she has any future in politics,'' said former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, who backed Murphy. "I think it was a pretty definitive response that the state gave to her, on her second go-round. ... She's had two bites of the apple."

McMahon announced Tuesday night that she has no intention of being a candidate again, and that includes a run for governor in 2014. "I do not have any plans to run for office again at this time," she said.

But her supporters said they hope she will stay involved. "Linda is one of the nicest people I ever met in politics," said Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia. "She brought a lot of energy."

Moccia said McMahon's efforts to win votes in the state's big cities, while controversial, is something the party should be adopting. In the final days of the campaign, McMahon launched a get-out-the-vote effort targeting Obama supporters and asking them to also chose her. Some Republicans didn't like it, but Moccia gives her points for at least trying to compete in the Democratic-dominated urban centers and for trying to win over women voters.

"The Republican Party has an issue with attracting women and minorities and Hispanic voters," Moccia said. "She tried to bridge some of that gap especially with women, and for that we should be very grateful."

The effort did not succeed. McMahon lost the cities by wide margins and trailed Murphy among women voters by a 3-2 ratio, according to exit polling by the Associated Press.

Murphy said the national Republican Party has grown increasingly conservative and he pointed to the big vote tallies he received in the state's three largest cities as proof.

"It really speaks to the fact that urban voters don't believe that Republican candidates have a lot to offer the cities today," he said. "I hope that these results ... are a wake-up call to Republicans that they start working with Democrats at the state and the federal level to ... have an agenda that we can both work on together for the cities.''